Caroline Blackmun is a regular at chapel services and an alumna of Churchill. She is also an Authorised Lay Minister at St Andrew’s Church, Girton.
In her sermon, Caroline explores Genesis 1 along the lines of a call to humans to exercise stewardship. She points out that although humans are told to be fruitful and multiply, but so are all the other animals. Wealth inequality amongst humans is also a driver of environmental harm. Those of us who are relatively wealthy should really watch how much of all the stuff we have we really need.
Creation Care
Readings
Genesis 1 (can shorten to 1:20-31) and optionally Matthew 6:19-34 and Psalm 24
Sermon
Do you believe Genesis 1 describes a literal chronological truth? If
not, what can it tell us about the relationship between God, creation,
and humankind?
From our modern scientific perspective it can be easy to dismiss
Genesis 1 as not being an historical account of how the earth and the
richness of life on it came into being, but that would be missing the
point. The ancient God-inspired Israelites who first wrote this down,
weren’t attempting to write a factual account of what happened but
were writing an account demonstrating God’s transcendence over
creation and his love for it, at each stage noting that God saw that it
was good, and the special role that humans have in creation.
A key verse is Genesis 1:28: “God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing
that moves on the earth’. There’s a lot packed in that one verse:
what’s meant by “filling the earth”, “subduing it”? or by “dominion”?
Let’s consider dominion. Some interpret dominion (or rule in some
other translations) as domination and use that as a justification for
humankind to exploit and have absolute control over the earth’s
resources and in particular other creatures and plants. This view was
prevalent among some of those exploiting the earth’s natural
resources during the Industrial revolution and is still held by some
Christian groups, especially in America.
An alternative interpretation of dominion is of caring stewardship.
Earlier in Genesis 1, God had created the plants and living creatures
of every kind, blessed them and encouraged them to be fruitful, thus
demonstrating God’s caring creative nature. Then in verse 26 “God
said “Let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness;
and let them have dominion…” which suggests that in giving
humankind dominion God is expecting them to carry on his caring
and creative work on the earth. Throughout the Bible we have
examples of God both caring for his creation and entrusting
humankind to care for it. Jesus refers to the lilies of the field clothed
in glory and the humble sparrow as examples of how far God’s love
extends to all creation. In biblical times sparrows were numerous and
were considered at best as unimportant or worse as annoying, but
they were still remembered by God. Then there’s Noah, told by God
to gather and care for all creatures both those useful for food and
those which weren’t, so man’s role isn’t purely utilitarian. In
Leviticus, God instructs the Israelites that the seventh year shall be a
year of rest for the land. In Genesis 2 man is told to “till the garden of
Eden and keep it”, again implying caring stewardship rather than
ownership, exploitation, or control.
Going back to verse 28, there’s that phrase ‘Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth’. Well humankind has certainly multiplied since
Genesis was written down (which was probably during the exile in
Babylon), and it could be said that we have filled the earth. The world
population around 500 BC is estimated to have been around 100
million, which has multiplied about 80 times to around 8000 million
now, but with the most significant growth and increasing growth in
recent history: with (a 10-fold increase in the last 250 years and) a
doubling in the last 50 years.
There are various projections on future growth and what the earth
can support, which depend somewhat on how humankind and
nature react to issues relating to climate change and pollution. There
are some who suggest that we have already reached the population
that the earth can sensibly support, partly because those in
developed countries typically over-consume and many in less
developed countries are malnourished with poor life quality: it has
been calculated that if the world’s total ecological capacity were
shared equally among the current population, everyone would have
little more than the current resource consumption of someone living
in Mali. OTOH others suggest the earth could support a trillion
people by concentrating people in high rise cities and devoting all
available land to food production with loss of much of the rich
biodiversity of God’s creation. (We’re already using 44% of the
world’s habitable land for agriculture.)
But earlier in Genesis 1, God had blessed the other creatures and
told them to be fruitful and multiply. So did God really intend that
humankind dominate the planet while driving some other species to
extinction? There are some who believe that in Genesis 1 God gives
humankind carte blanche to do what it likes, but throughout the
Bible we see God’s love for all creation. Even if God placed man
above creation, if humankind is in the image of God it should care for
creation, because God does.
Going back to caring stewardship. What does caring stewardship
mean for us individually? We live in a complex technological society
using the earth’s resources in ways inconceivable 2000 plus years
ago. Many inventions have benefitted humanity, but sometimes at a
very high cost to the rest of creation.
It’s easier to care for something we relate to, so it’s good to start by
getting outside into the natural world if you can: listen to birds
singing, appreciate the beauty of those “lilies of the field” and give
thanks for the wonderful diversity of creation.
Caring for creation includes caring for humanity, and we live in a
world of extreme inequalities, both in terms of living conditions and
of how much of the world’s resources people consume. A typical UK
resident will consume more than 16 times as much of the world’s
resources than someone living in sub-Saharan Africa. Affluent
countries consume more resources and create more waste and
pollution than poorer countries, but those in poorer countries are
often those most affected by environmental changes. This disparity
brings to mind the parable of the rich man, and Lazarus, the soreridden
beggar at his gate: the rich man isn’t said to have committed
any particular actions against Lazarus: his sin was that his wealthy
comfortable lifestyle had made him oblivious to the suffering and
deprivation of the poor man at his gate. Should we feel
uncomfortable?
As an aside, there’s a complex relationship between poverty,
resource consumption, pollution and population growth, which I’m
not going to try to cover here!
Many of us live reasonably comfortable lives, but others are living on
the edge, and the effects of environmental pollution or climate
change tend to have most impact on the poorest. It can feel
overwhelming when we see pictures of deprivation and damage from
around the world. As individual stewards we can’t be responsible for
the whole of creation. So what can we do?
We live in a consumerist society which is part of a global economic
system which encourages a desire for stuff, more stuff, the latest,
prettiest, most advanced stuff, the best stuff. In Luke 12 Jesus says:
‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life
does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Greed might have
been a problem for some of Jesus’s listeners, and they weren’t
surrounded by advertising encouraging consumption! So, how much
stuff do we need? A young Australian woman successfully followed a
whole year “fashion-fast” of not buying any new clothes, shoes, or
accessories, even when attending a friend’s wedding, and found it
grew her faith in unexpected ways.
Is there something you consume that you can live well with less of?
I’ve become aware that I have far more stuff than I actually need, and
more than I can sensibly use and enjoy! So how do we deal with the
advertising pressures of our consumerist society to tempt us to buy
the latest and best, and then discard the previous sometimes barely
used? I’ve been trying to think more consciously “do I need this” or
“can I make good use of this”. We’re coming up to Lent in a couple of
weeks’ time, which is traditionally a good time to review how we live
our lives including what we consume. A Lenten review might lead to
longer term benefits.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to store up treasures
on earth, but instead to store up treasures in heaven. “Where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also”. We all need some stuff, but
more joy may be found in relationships, with loved ones, with God’s
creation and with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Caring for
creation will usually mean caring for your fellow men and women.
God saw that his creation was good and entrusted it to humankind.
As caring stewards we need to appreciate and enjoy it, but we also
need to ensure that our use of it is sympathetic with all of creation.
Psalm 24 reminds us “The world and all that is in it belong to the
Lord, the earth and all who live on it are his”. As stewards we need to
use it carefully! How much stuff do you need?